Energy performance certificates are coming - May 2008

The Department of Finance and Personnel has announced that Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) will be compulsory for all house sales in Northern Ireland from the end of June 2008.

They will be required for all new construction from the end of September and all property sales and rentals by the end of the year. The introduction of these requirements fulfils an obligation placed on all Member States by an EU Directive on the energy performance of buildings.

The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) Regulations (NI) 2008 were made on 10 April 2008. They introduce a requirement to provide an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when a building is constructed, sold or rented.

·An EPC may only be introduced by a trained and accredited assessor. National Occupational Standards have been developed by Asset Skills (the Sector Skills Council for the Property, Facilities Management, Housing and Cleaning industries) to define the Skills and Knowledge required to apply to join an accreditation scheme and become licensed to practice as an Energy Assessor. National calculation methodologies used in the calculation of energy performance and the production of Energy Performance Certificates have been developed from software which is used to demonstrate compliance with the Building Regulations

The regulations provide for a 3-phased implementation of the certification requirements as follows:

• 30 June 2008: Sale of existing dwellings
• 30 September 2008: Construction of new buildings
• 30 December 2008: Rental of existing buildings; sale of existing non-dwellings

In addition to the production of EPCs, the regulations also introduce a requirement for large public buildings that are visited by the public to show prominently a Display Energy Certificate. This is similar to an EPC but derives its rating from the actual energy consumed by the building in a 12-month period.

The regulations also establish an inspection regime for all air conditioning systems over 12 kW output.

The regulations implement the requirements of Articles 7, 9 and 10 of the European Directive 2002/91 on the energy performance of buildings. Other requirements in this Directive were implemented by amendments to the Building Regulations Part F (Conservation of fuel & power) made in August 2006.